I loved her first book, and this was just as funny and as diverse, and I loved it. We are dropped right into Molly's world of weirdness, with her much braver twin sister, her supportive mums, her best friends and her new job that puts her in the path of Reid.

I saw so much of myself in Molly - maybe not so much in the ridiculous amount of crushes, but definitely the fear of putting yourself out there and being the complete opposite of confident with your body. Molly has had a total of 26 crushes, spanning the years and the types, but it's only now that she thinks maybe she could put herself out there and actually tell them she likes them.

So the love interests. Technically we met Will first but as he was the friend of the girl Molly was pushing towards her twin Cassie, all Molly noticed was he was hipster hot. Then we met Reid, the geeky and sweet boy who works in the shop with her. I was rooting for Reid from the get-go. Molly never really seemed all that interested in Will, it was more like an acknowledgement that he was attractive. Not to mention there was plenty of mixed messages with Will, between being too drunk or too worried.

When Cassie gets together with Mina, not only is it super adorable, but it also marks the end of an era with Molly and Cassie. They have always been each other's first call but this is the sucky part of growing up, that it's not like it was when you're young; first loves and getting older changes the relationships you have, especially with siblings and parents. And it did take some adjusting but Molly's anxiety makes her see things as worse than they are, so there is some harsh and bitter fights for a time. Ah, family.

Now, I can't not mention all of the diversity! Multiple homosexual characters, pansexual love interest (for Cassie), anxious protagonist (who happened to be fat and love food - but no body shaming!), black characters, bisexual characters, Jewish characters - and then a same-sex wedding! All of this squished just effortlessly into a heartwarming coming of age story that also discusses love, sex, feminism, inequality with racism and sexism, and mental health. A great story that has just about everything, and one that has sky-rocketed to the top of my favourites.

This is a book that I would have no problems reading again and again. Beautiful and heartwarming, with a few shades of hurt thrown in. I loved it.

Molly and her twin have always been best friends as well as sisters, but when Cassie meets the girl of her dreams and falls head over heels, Molly's suddenly left behind. It's not that she's never been in love - she has, 26 times - but it's always been unrequited. Luckily, Cassie has a cute friend, Will, who's showing an interest in Molly... so why can't she stop thinking about her nerdy co-worker Reid?

Albertalli's first novel, Simon Versus The Homo-Sapiens Agenda, is one of my favourite books ever and the one I'm most likely to press upon friends while shouting, "READ THIS!" so it's fair to say that anticipation was running high for The Upside Of Unrequited. But I absolutely loved this sweet, charming, funny romance. It's fantastically diverse and, best of all, Molly is the fat YA heroine of my dreams. What leaps off the page is that Albertalli knows teenagers - knows what makes them tick, knows the cadences of their speech - and, perhaps more importantly, likes them. Her characters are fully-rounded, interesting, flawed beings, with whom the reader cannot help falling in love. This book would have been so, so important to me when I was a teenager and I'm not too proud to admit that even now, I cried happy tears at seeing a fat girl (with lesbian moms! It me!) represented on the page. And for Simon... fans there's the added Easter Egg of a guest appearance by the man himself.

Immensely relatable YA, often even painfully so. Molly articulated so many thoughts I had as a teen, feeling lost and left out and wondering what I was missing, about sex and relationships and all the mysterious things that other girls got and I never did. That I felt never could be mine, because I was fat and thus undesirable. Molly at least has a supportive, if not always tremendously aware, circle of friends, and her relationship with her twin sister was one of the strongest elements of the novel. I liked that Molly was allowed to be flawed, her occasional bitterness and self-absorbed behaviour felt believable and real. With very little actual plot the pacing was a bit slow at times, but as a character study it's certainly an engaging and enjoyable read. 3.5 stars.

Review here - https://youtu.be/4pDdp2m-3Bc

I've honestly been dreading writing this review because I loved this book so much and I don't honestly know how to even talk about it.

Molly has a lot of crushes and all of them are unrequited, or she thinks they are because she never gets the confidence to tell them. When Molly's sister Cassie gets a girlfriend Molly starts to feel even more sad about her unrequited love. But Cassie has a cute friend who Molly thinks maybe she could love, at the same time she starts to feel things for her coworker Reid.

This book is in contention for my favourite book of the year. I absolutely adored Simon Vs and I think I liked this even more. It has a chubby Jewish MC, a chubby romantic interest, lesbian mums, a pansexual, Korean character. It was just so wonderfully real. As someone who is pansexual it was especially important for me that there was a pansexual character.

This has a sort of love triangle but it's not really a love triangle because one of the love interests is more of a forced flirtation caused by Cassie. But I liked how Albertalli dealt with the situation, it felt so real and not like how uncomfortable and silly some love triangles are.

I just want to take a second to talk about how much I loved the representation in this book. As someone who is both chubby and pansexual it meant a lot to me to read a YA book with characters who were the same. I think this is the first book I've ever read where there was a pansexual character and I'm just so happy about it. I hope that more books include pan characters. I also loved reading a chubby MC and about a chubby love interest. It's not often that a love interest doesn't have the "perfect" body. And on top of all that Molly has anxiety and she takes medication for it and that's just part of her every day life and it was so good to read someone who has anxiety just living with it and seeing the ups and downs even with meds.

This book just made me feel so warm and fuzzy inside. There's something about the way Albertalli writes that I just really adore. She doesn't add unnecessary drama and she just has characters living their lives. I also love how Simon Vs. had Oreos and this has Mini Eggs, I adore Mini Eggs but you can only get them at Easter time which makes me sad.

The wedding may date this book as it surrounds gay marriage being made legal in the states but I loved reading something that was relevant to where we are now.

I already want to reread this book because I just loved it so much and has solidified Becky Albertalli as an auto-buy author for me.

This book was freaking adorable. I mean, there was lots of teen drama and stuff happening but it was also the cutest. It's strange, it sort of began with Molly being cute and meeting a quirky girl in the toilet (Mina) and the inevitable making friends in toilets (this always happens in clubs and I love it). It then had the greatest meet cute for Mina and Cassie with the awkward merge of friends which always occurs. It then turned into an awkward teenage angst things as Cassie became invested in her relationship with Mina leaving Milly to feel alone. It had Molly doing the will they won't they thing with Will and Reid and then the books turned back to a teenage cute fest that is Molly and Reid. As I said, it felt a bit strange. I mean, the book stayed cute all the way through but there was a slight change in tone as Milly fell into that pit of obsessing which happens when you start overthinking things and know you are and simply cannot stop yourself no matter how much you try.

I think that's what I really loved about this book. Albertalli really knew how to describe the thought process of a slightly obsessive anxious person. I cannot claim to suffer from anxiety but I am an anxious person when I let myself be and so I could totally understand Molly's entire thought process in this book. Even when she was being totally crazy and you wanted to stop her all I can think is I've been there.

And the characters are the best. I loved Molly and her creativity and her insecurity at times but then how funny she can be too. The girl be sassy when she wants to be! And Cassie and her occasionally selfish ways (because who isn't at 17) but girl is there when you need her and she will cut a bitch when needs must. And Olivia who was the girl of the long term boyfriend but then totally ok with single life. She was just okay with whatever. And Reid whose cheeks and I want to smush and I just want to take him everywhere in my pocket the boy be cute. And Molly and Cassie's moms! Honestly, they were parent life goals. And it's so fun to see parents I recognise with my own. I may not have two moms but their general attitude to parenting is so like my mom and stepdad. I love it.

Basically, in my slightly spoilerish flailing I have to say I loved it. I loved the writing. I loved the book and I am sat here questioning why the hell I've not read Albertalli's first book.

*I received this book in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. However, all opinions are completely my own and are in no way influenced by the exchange.*

As soon as I saw this book on NetGalley, I had to request it right away. I read Becky Albertalli's book, Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda pretty recently after seeing several reviews on it, and I knew straight away I wanted to read anything else that Becky Albertalli graced us with.

The Upside of Unrequited follows 17 year old Molly Peskin-Suso, a girl who has had many crushes but never followed through on them. She has a twin sister called Cassie who finds herself in a new relationship. As Cassie gets more and more involved in this new relationship, she becomes determined to set Molly up as well. Molly isn't too sure this is what she wants, after all, 'fat girls have to be careful'.

I absolutely loved this book. The characters have so much depth, are so lovable and I REALLY enjoyed that there was ties to the characters we met in Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda. It was really nice to check in with them and see how their lives are going. The diversity in this book is absolutely top notch, there are characters who are lesbians, pansexual, bisexual, Jewish, different race/colour, different body types (the main character is 'fat') and mention of mental health issues as well. I really don't think you could get any more diverse than this book.

The storyline was fantastic and was incredibly character driven. I'm not usually a huge fan of this, but the way Becky Albertalli has done this is extremely good. I was so sad that the book finished, I could have kept reading about Molly, Cassie and their family and friends forever! I really hope there is going to be another book that features some of these characters in the future, I just need to know!

Becky Albertalli has become an auto-buy author for me now. For a relatively new author, the work she is publishing is the standard of that I would expect from a well known author. I can only imagine how she's going to grow and what she will come out with in the future. Not only is her writing incredible, but she fills some massive gaps in the YA market with the diversity and characters in her book. She's not afraid to deviate from the 'norm' and I really applaud her for that.

In short, this is a book you all need to pick up and read! Especially now that we're coming in to the warmer weather, it's a perfect sunny day read.

Just like 'Simon' this was another utterly charming and diverse read. Molly has had loads of crushes before but it has never gone any further than that whereas her twin sister Cassie is much more experienced. Molly feels like the only girl in the world who has never been kissed or had a relationship.
Enter 2 very different boys: Will and Reid. Will either of them be her first kiss?
This is primarily a romance novel and it is very cute indeed but I actually loved the fact it focused a bit on the fear Molly has of her and her twin growing apart. You don't need to be a twin for this to resonate, its a common feeling when friends leave school and all head off in different directions and it is handled beautifully in here. It has a great supporting cast of characters and its 2/2 for me now with Becky's books. I can't wait for the next one.

The Upside of Unrequited was a wonderful book full of awkwardness, diversity and adorable things! I found it difficult at first to connect with the narrator, Molly, as she was someone who crushed on a lot of people and I don't really do that. Other than that though, I'd say I was quite similar to her character. She was an anxious fluffball who was overweight and thought no one could ever love her. Also, she had her first kiss at 17 (me too, yay!) because of how uncertain she was about going after her crushes. I mean, my reason isn't the same but still.

Also, Cassie and Mina! So! Cute! Shipped them! My only complaint about them is that they were not in it anywhere near enough which makes me sad. This was a story not just about growing up, finding yourself and being what you think is unlovable! It was also about family and friendship and how easy it is to drift apart from siblings if one of you gets a gf/bf. I loved it! Highly recommend!

4.5 Stars
OK confession time, I didn't love Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. I wanted to, had really high hopes for it but while I did enjoy it there was that little something missing for me.

This book however, this book I did love. I don't know if it was just that I went into it with slightly lower expectations (my expectations were through the roof for Simon vs) or if I could just relate more to Molly but I enjoyed it so much more.

Albertalli's writing is absolutely wonderful. She manages to capture the voice and feeling of being a teenager so well that it took me right back to my teenage years. There isn't a huge story, it's pretty much your usual coming of age/YA romance but main character Molly is so likeable it's difficult not to get hooked in.

Molly was definitely a character I could relate to. She's smart, creative and close to her family and friends but is self conscious, anxious and quiet when it comes to meeting new people and boys in particular. She develops crushes at the drop of a hat but is too scared to act and therefore ends up worshiping the boy of the moment from afar.

I loved how her character developed over the course of the story and in particular the very real way in which the author portrayed the changing relationship with her twin sister. In many ways the romance within the book was almost secondary, although it was very sweet and one of the highlights for me.

One of the other highlights was the amount of diversity. This is possibly one of the most diverse books I've ever come across and it felt like almost every group was represented in some way. Molly has two moms, she's Jewish, her sister is a lesbian who is involved with a pansexual character, she has weight issues and suffers from anxiety. In the beginning I did wonder if this was too much and the author was forcing too much in but thankfully this turned out not to be the case. It all feels very natural and the issues raised are dealt with in quite a subtle and realistic way.

Overall a great read and one I'd definitely recommend if you like YA contemporary with diverse characters.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC. As always all views are my own.

Holy relatability, Batman. I’m pretty sure Becky Albertalli has telepathically taken my seventeen-year-old self, chucked in a flair for vintage and craft, and created Molly. She’s chunky, she’s sweet, she’s a serial crusher (totalling twenty-six crushes but no kisses), she’s totally baffled by how relationships work and how one can acquire a boyfriend, and I related so hard it hurts. She also gives (and says) a big ‘fuck you’ to guys who say shit like, ‘you’re gorgeous for a big girl’ – she may be insecure and unsure at times but body acceptance, especially in a world that shoves the notion that thinner is more attractive down your throat, takes time, and I think Molly’s doing alright with that.

Now, the nitty gritty (summarized from the blurb because I’m lazy): Molly and Cassie are seventeen-year-old twins. Normally cynical Cassie is suddenly on cloud nine with Mina, and Molly feels confused and adrift, feeling pushed aside for Mina. Molly can’t cope with the idea of being rejected and feels that, as a fat girl, she has to be careful, which means she’s never had a boyfriend or been kissed. Enter cute hipster Will, and adorable geek Reid, who make her rethink everything she thinks she knows about love and relationships. It may sound superficial but I can assure that this book has a lot going on beneath the surface, whilst still being gloriously feel good.

The story is so driven by the characters and what’s going on in their lives, and I became entirely wrapped up in it – it’s all about first love, teenage relationships, the silliness of said relationships, so if you don’t like any of that stuff, stay away because it is inescapable. Boyfriends, being desired, wondering if you’re a freak for not having that mythical first kiss – all that gloriously silly teenage stuff that seems so important at the time – I’ve been there, I’ve lived it, and I mostly loved living it again through Molly. There’s something both nauseating and wonderful about all that first love stuff that makes me go gooey.

If it’s not already obvious, I loved Molly, and most of the other characters by the end of it – they all felt very real, flaws and all. I think Molly could easily come across as boy obsessed, but when you’re seventeen stuff like that can seem so important – relationships, being liked, fitting in, it’s all so insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but you don’t always know that when you’re younger. It’s why Cassie seemed irritating at times, you just get caught up in that first boyfriend/girlfriend and forget about everything else, but she was also unapologetically herself and a fierce defender (as well as irritator) of Molly.

Aside from bundles of relatability, I loved the diversity within this novel. I liked that white, straight, and cis, was not the ‘default’ for the characters. Different races and sexualities abound in the novel and it is treated as completely normal, rather than there being a ‘token gay friend’ or ‘token black friend’ – they are just characters, just people, who are never portrayed as ‘other’. I found a real feeling of acceptance throughout the novel, like anyone could pick it up and find something to relate to amongst the characters and situations that happened. It’s just mushy, gooey sweetness, and crazy teenage hormones, and love, so much love, all wrapped up into an imperfect but wonderful parcel. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m growing to go throw glitter amongst the madness that is life.

My face hurts from smiling so much. The Upside of Unrequited is the cutest book to ever cute.

It was a fantastic coming of age story about learning to accept yourself. Filled with diverse characters, sisterhood, and concerns people go through every day, it was a terrific portrayal of real life.

Upside is Becky’s second book, her first being Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, one of my favourites and also so ridiculously adorable. It’s hard to not compare Upside with Simon since they technically are related books. Not a sequel or prequel, but more of a side-quel. Plot-wise, I felt Simon definitely has the edge. I felt more happened overall in Simon, but that’s not to say Upside wasn’t good. It was still an adorable rollercoaster of fun.

And for the Simon fans: Simon, Abby, and Nick make perfect cameos.

I’m trying to think of the last book I read that featured a Jewish main character that wasn’t in relation to the Second World War. I can’t. And I’m also trying to think of the last time I heard the word ‘mamaleh’ used and wasn’t from someone in my family and I most definitely can’t. It was so surprising to see a Jewish person who wasn’t really religious — more culturally Jewish than anything — because that is 100% me. I never thought I’d see that part of me represented in a book (even casually like in Upside)!

With two fantastic books written, Becky Albertalli is on her way to becoming one of the defining young adult authors of this decade. I cannot wait to see what her next book brings!

And I leave you with the truest of Jewish truths:

“I don’t think of myself as super Jewish or anything, and I basically never
go to synagogue. But there’s this thing I feel when I meet another
Jewish person in the wild. It’s like a secret invisible high five.”


Thanks so much to Penguin Random House UK Children’s for an advance copy!

This book was such a quick and easy read. The Upside of Unrequited is an engaging slice of life type story following seventeen year old Molly, who has had twenty-six crushes in her life, but has never acted on them. It was so easy to slip into Molly's head and the result was that this book was very difficult to put down. The book opens with Molly in the toilets at a club wondering how mermaids pee, a response to the decor that feels so genuine and endearing, and instantly put a smile on my face. She has a brief encounter with a girl her age, and takes off from there.

The book is told entirely from Molly's point of view, she is very relatable and has a distinct and developed voice. I soon felt like I knew her and really related to her as a main character. She is a pintrest queen with an eye for decoration and a talent for crafts. She has a long history of crushes, but she has always been too scared to open herself up to hurt, to act on them. Part of the story is dealing with her trying to open herself up to the possibility of a relationship.

One of the things that I really loved about The Upside of Unrequited is the importance of the relationship between Molly and her twin sister Cassie, and the strong relationships she has with the rest of her family. Too often in YA, main characters have poor to non-existent relationships with their families, especially parents, here the story looks at how these relationships evolve.

There are so many important elements woven in to this story, and I felt like it was really well done. There is a lot of diversity, and it feels totally natural, and none of the characters are reduced to their diverse characteristic, they all read like real people, and I really liked all the different relationship dynamics. There is so much to talk about regarding this book, but I'm going to try to mention things without spoiling anything. Molly, the main character has an anxiety disorder which she takes medication for, this is not a main plot point, but it does come up in terms of how it affects her life. She also happens to be fat, which again is not a defining trait for her character, she is so much more. She is a twin and has a strong relationship with her sister Cassie, who dates girls, at the beginning of the book she meets her love interest, Mina, who is Korean-American and identifies as pansexual. They have two moms, one of whom identifies as bisexual. There are multiple black characters in the book. Also the main character and a number of side characters, including one of the love interests, are Jewish. I'm not in a position to judge the representation of many of these diverse elements, but everything felt well handled as far as I'm aware.

So, I have never connected to a YA contemporary book before, like I did with this one. I literally was so absorbed that I did nothing but read this for a day. It was joyful and cute and authentic and it gave me all the feels. I have since read, and really enjoyed Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda (which also gave me all the feels), and now I want to reread this all over again. I feel like Becky Albertalli is now an auto-buy author for me, she definitely lived up to the hype, and I am extremely excited to see what she does next. This book was an easy 5 stars, for me and I highly recommend it.

I'm really surprised to see so many positive reviews of The Upside of Unrequited from GR members who thought Holding Up the Universe was problematic. To me, this is more of the same. This might be the author who brought us the wonderful and hilarious Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, but these characters contained none of the charm that Simon & Co. possessed.

To summarize why I didn't like this book in two points:

1) I felt absolutely no connection to any of the characters. It seemed like the author put a lot of effort into creating a diverse cast, which is great, and yet she forgot to develop their personality, charms and quirks, so that they became defined by their marginalization.

Molly is the most well-developed character and even that is not saying much. Who is Molly? What are her passions and interests? What does she care about aside from obsessing over her crushes and the fact she hasn't been kissed? I couldn't tell you.

2) There isn't a compelling story.

In fact, it's the same old story I have never liked: an insecure (plain/overweight) virgin longs to finally be kissed by a boy. Everyone else around her is “cute” or “hot” and she feels inadequate. She finally finds her worth when it turns out that a boy likes her.

I don’t know if this kind of book is supposed to be empowering for bigger girls, but it felt insulting. The protagonist - Molly - is a self-proclaimed "fat girl" who always has crushes but never dates and/or kisses guys because she fears rejection. The story arc follows her journey to gaining self-confidence, which here occurs when her latest crush reciprocates her feelings. Is this a good message? Because, honestly, it makes me cringe.

It’s so many things. It’s everyone knowing you’re attracted to a guy who wears electric-white sneakers. It’s that little twinge of shame you feel when someone thinks he’s not cute. Even though he is cute. He’s actually really fucking adorable. I actually really fucking like him, and none of the other stuff should matter.


And I just... didn't like her. Whining over the most ridiculous first world problems like the fact that she doesn’t want to admit she likes a nerdy guy who wears LOTR t-shirts? Girl, get over yourself.

I will say that the book has a lot of diversity - skin color, sexuality, gender identity, religion, body size, mental health - but you don't get brownie points or a pat on the back for this anymore. Diversity is just a necessity, not something a book should win an award for. Beyond this, the story and characters were extremely lacking for me. Molly's inner narrative went in tiring circles as she thought about herself, kissing boys, and back again:

My ego. I don’t have an ego. If I had such a giant ego, why would I have such a hard time believing Reid actually likes me?
Except, if I’m totally honest, I do believe it. Reid likes me. And I like that he likes me. But I’m not used to this game. It’s this totally new way of seeing myself. Like I’m some hazily lit dream girl from a movie. I’ve never been that girl before.
I really like being that girl. So, maybe I am some kind of egomaniac.


I liked Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda so much that I will happily check out the author's future work, but this one obviously did not work for me.

In 2015 Becky Albertalli published her debut novel Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda which took the book community by storm and was a lot of readers favourite book of that year. Sadly I still haven’t read the book but when I saw she had a new book out I knew I had to read it immediately.

Seventeen year old Molly has had exactly 26 crushes and not one of them has been reciprocated. She is incredibly shy and has a fear of being rejected so her crushes never go any further than her admiring from a distance. Molly’s twin Cassie is totally different, she is confident, outgoing and oh yeah…slim! Molly desperately wants a boyfriend and to be loved but her insecurities and anxiety get in the way. Cassie starts dating a uber cool girl (Mina) from a different school who also has hot friend and could be potentially crush number 27.Cassie and Mina are trying to set up Molly with her hot friend, however Molly gets a part-time job at a local homeware store where she meets Reid. Reid is geeky and not Molly’s usual crush type but working together brings them closer…will Molly find love? or will it be unrequited.

I really enjoyed this book, it had so many great things going for it. It was adorable,hilarious and very relatable. Lets talk about how diverse this book is…I mean wow. Molly is an overweight Jewish girl with 2 mothers and her twin is also a lesbian. This was just jam-packed with diversity which I really appreciated but at times I felt it was a little bit forced. It seemed there just too much and felt like it was added just to be recognised as a diverse author (please don’t hurt me Alebertalli fans). I haven’t read her debut novel so I have no comparison and wasn’t sure what to expect.

I loved Molly and felt she was totally relatable, she is overweight and scared of being rejected. I think a lot of girls feel the same way as her and it must be very hard to have a twin that is the opposite. The writing and storyline was very genuine from how Molly felt her world was shifting because her sister now had a girlfriend and they were both uncertain on how to deal with these changes in their lives.

It really does have a cute romance in this book, I was rooting for Molly and it’s like that saying ‘When your waiting ages for a bus and then two come along at once’ this is Molly’s life. Another thing that I really liked about this story was that even though we knew Molly was overweight, there was no mention as to how many stone/kilo’s or dress size she was. I thought this was very respectfully done as there will be impressionable teens reading this and I would hate for them to start comparing themselves. The positive thing was that Molly was happy in her skin and she didn’t diet and her family didn’t fat shame her(apart from her grandmother).

This book had a great representation of teenagers today(No John Green pretentiousness)and the parents were great too.

There were references to Game of Thrones and other nerdy stuff which made this book just that extra bit special to me.

Oh and just to let you know Simon from her previous novel makes an appearance in this book, it’s small but he is there.

This book is pretty amazing and I will be picking up Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda in the near future. I recommend this book if you love contemporaries and relatable/awesome characters.

I rated this 4 out of 5 stars

Becky Albertalli’s story about a young girl named Molly, who’s constantly falling in and out of love, is delightfully written and I’d also like to add that her penchant (as I understand it) for diverse characters is spot on in today’s climate. It’s refreshing to read about a family dynamic that’s both something originally new and still manages to convey the modern-day family that often consists of more than one “correct” version.

Molly’s a seventeen-year-old girl who’s never been kissed and has never had a boyfriend. What she has had though are multiple crushes and thus she’s avoided experiencing rejection. Molly doesn’t see this as a problem, she’s careful… that’s all. When her womanizing and somewhat cynical twin sister Cassie suddenly falls madly in love, Molly can’t deny that she’s lonely and longing for connecting with someone of her own. Maybe having a boyfriend will even help her reconnect with her sister, as well as gifting her with her first kiss. Luckily (or maybe confusingly) for her, two boys pop up catching her attention. Who will she choose? The cute hipster boy Will who’s best friends with Cassie’s new girlfriend or her coworker the charming nerd boy Reid. And will she have the guts to put herself up for potential rejection?

Some scenes in this book had me cringing, not in a bad way, but in the way that I was acutely embarrassed on behalf of a character. That's some really good writing and makes me very keen to read her Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda!

The Upside of Unrequited is a very relatable, well-written story full of important beautiful messages. If you enjoyed Becky Albertalli's first novel, Simon vs. the Homo sapiens Agenda, you will fall in love with her second novel. There is a fantastic amount of diversity. The story is just so excellent. You will fly through it. You will be laughing out loud. And it would absolutely bring any reader out of a slump. The romance is adorable. The Harry Potter references is so fun. I highly recommend you check out your next favorite read today!

Molly, and her twin sister Cassie, are just reaching that age where you start to figure things out about life. Well, mostly about love, lust and keeping your friends when those things come along. Molly has been a bit of an underdog as far she’s concerned though when it comes to love. She considers herself a bit of a wallflower, a little bit chubby and a little bit uncool compared to confident Cassie. And given that she’s a serial crusher, you’d think she would have been a bit more successful by now if she put herself out there. So on the surface you’re probably expecting this book to largely be quite shallow and vapid. But it isn’t; it’s so much better than that.

Molly is little bits of lots of young people rolled into one. She is hilarious, self-deprecating but not in a serious way, and she has all of the insecurities most young people (and older ones!) have throughout their lives. Do I look fat in this? Is everyone else progressing whilst I’m standing still? Do families grow apart as people start to couple up? Am I only the virgin in the world? And these ideas and concepts are really nicely woven into the story to make Molly incredibly relatable and likeable. Her twin sister Cassie, incidentally, really irritated me for being a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde. One minute she was Molly’s biggest advocate, and the next she’s completely blinded by her gorgeous new girlfriend and is pushing Molly away. But you know, that is the reality of some relationships, and some families, so as much as I disliked Cassie, I loved the brutal honesty of the situation that this author captured; that’s what’s so clever about this book.

There are also lots of ideas in here that really deserved a whole book dedicated to them. The book has elements of LGBTQ, gay marriage, racism, sperm donation, some twin theories, bullying, struggling with weight and some massive exploration into what it means to be a family and to have your first love. I love that this author handled each of these well, with elements of humour which made the book hugely enjoyable for me. Equally the pacing is tremendously fast so you’ll never find a dull moment despite not an awful lot actually happening. However, because all of these ideas are thrown into the mix it almost feels a bit like the author is trying too hard to make this story be different, to make sure it includes lots of different injustices, and this seemed a bit too deliberate for me at times. I think it would have been more powerful to focus more deeply on just a few of these interesting ideas, rather than have a sprinkling of them all.

This book certainly deserves praise for encouraging people to be who they want to be, to throw away other people’s ignorant opinions and to embrace their inner weirdness. For this I absolutely recommend it.